World

ByCompiled from wire service reports by Robert KilbornMay 31, 2006

Kabul, Afghanistan, was calm Tuesday after the worst violence since the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001. An Army commander, however, said tanks were brought to the city "for the first time" and the number of deaths from Monday's anti- foreign riots rose to 11. The US Army blamed the accident that triggered the violence on failed brakes on one of its trucks that plowed into a line of civilian vehicles stopped at a traffic light.

With UN Security Council members due to meet Thursday on Iran's nuclear program, the Foreign Ministry in Tehran said it is ready to resume negotiations on the issue, especially with regard to the number of centrifuges used in enriching uranium. But it ruled out a complete halt to that process. The European Union's chief of foreign policy, however, said a rejection by Iran of the UN incentives for halting enrichment would be taken as a clear indication that it intends to build a nuclear bomb.

US marines arrived in central Indonesia to help speed heavy equipment and a field hospital to the zone devastated by Saturday's magnitude-6.3 earthquake. The government, however, raised the official number of deaths from the quake to 5,700, and analysts suggested that President Susilo Bambang Yudhyono's opponents may try to make political capital of an admitted "lack of coordination" in relief efforts, especially in the wake of the December 2004 tsunami disaster. Meanwhile, scientists were monitoring nearby Mount Merapi. The volcano, which has been belching gas and lava for weeks, spewed new plumes of ash on the heels of the earthquake.

Twelve laborers from the majority Sinhalese population of Sri Lanka were found shot to death, execution-style Tuesday, and authorities blamed the deaths on Tamil separatist rebels. A spokesman for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam denied they were involved. But he warned that being blacklisted as a terrorist organization by the European Union "is really going to ... shake the fundamentals" of the four-year-old truce with the nation's government. The move clears the way for EU member states to freeze the rebels' assets. Since February, almost 300 people have been killed in Sri Lanka in what the Tigers call a "low-intensity war."

Defying more than 2,000 foreign peacekeepers, gangs in East Timor's capital went on a new arson and looting spree as the government conceded the difficulty of controlling them. Looters ransacked food stores, set buildings on fire, and even raided the Attorney General's office, taking sensitive files. One resident complained that "as soon as the soldiers move somewhere else [gang members] come back." Against that backdrop, President Xanana Gusmao fired his defense and interior chiefs and assumed "sole responsibility" for security.

A deal between the Bush administration and the European Union on sharing information about US-bound airline passengers was blocked by the latter's highest court. It said the agreement lacked an adequate legal basis. The deal was reached in the wake of the September 2001 terrorist attacks. It requires European carriers to share with US authorities 34 separate details - among them the form of payment for each ticket sold - within 15 minutes of takeoff. The US has warned that it will fine and deny landing rights to airlines that don't comply.

Seven policemen were hurt and the home of a mayor was stoned in a night of clashes with hundreds of young people in suburban Paris, evoking memories of the violence that shook France for weeks last November. The trouble erupted as word spread that a suspect in the beating of a bus driver earlier this month had been caught. The mayor of Montfermeil had witnessed that beating and reported it to police. He then tried to ban teenagers from gathering in unsupervised groups of more than three, although a court overruled him.